In the face of economic uncertainties and increasing environmental concernswww.cechina.cn, many businesses are trying to make their operations more lean控制工程网版权所有, efficient, and environmentally friendly. Examining your electricity bill is a good place to start. The top consumers of electricity are HVAC systems, water heatingwww.cechina.cn, lighting, office equipmentCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, and machinery. More specifically, the motors within these machines are responsible for approximately two-thirds of the total electrical energy consumption in a typical industrial facility. To improve the efficiency and lower operating costs of motors in your enterprise, consider the following factors.
        High efficiency motors
        A motor running at 50% efficiency is converting only half of the electrical power into useful mechanical work. The rest is wasted. This makes the extra investment in efficient motors prudent since electricity costs make up 96% of the total life cycle costs of a motor. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), switching to a motor with a 4-6% higher efficiency rating can pay for itself in two years if the motor runs more than 4,000 hours a year.
        Unfortunatelywww.cechina.cn, simply replacing existing equipment is a luxury. Many facilities host motors that are very large and costly to replace. Hence, users are always looking for ways to squeeze more efficiency out of existing assets. The key to reaping savings could lay in the drive Control algorithms and implementation of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Essentially, when you cannot replace the motor, replace the algorithm and controller to achieve better efficiency. With high computational power silicon devices, such as the Virtex or Spartan FPGAs from Xilinx, along with available commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware like National Instruments’ CompactRIO, one can rapidly proto